Rake (2014)
An outspoken and self-destructive criminal defense lawyer takes on the most challenging cases.
Creators:
Peter Duncan, Peter Tolan
Stars:
Greg Kinnear, John Ortiz, Miranda Otto |
Story line
Follows the chaotic world of criminal defense lawyer Keegan Deane. Brilliant, iconoclastic and innately self-destructive, he has a mind-numbing lack of discretion and a total inability to pause before speaking his mind. From bigamists to cannibals and everything in between, the clients Keegan loves most are those whose cases appear to be utterly hopeless without him realizing that he, himself, is perhaps the most desperate case of all.
User Reviews
Due to the usual remake that adds copious amounts of substituted water and sawdust.
Don't blame the recipe, blame the wannabe cooks.
Greg Kinnear is just too bland and nice to fill the lead role. The original Rake* is so much the author of his own self destruction, but still retains sufficient redeeming qualities to tip us over to forgiving the flaws, just as his many loves do.
The US version doesn't fill the rakish side sufficiently for us to care whether we forgive him or not. It all reminds me of those unfortunate wannabe clowns who think a cheap frizzy colored wigs, red nose and big shoes are all it takes. The timing, wit and novelty, having all whizzed right over their heads.
This pale version has not just whizzed over my (indifferent) head, but the heads of the puzzled US audience for whom it is all too strange and unpredictable, despite the attempted remake to do just that. Not frighten the trite sensibilities of middle America, thus rendering the whole exercise pointless.
*It occurs to me having read some of the other reviews that most Americans do not even understand the real meaning of "rake" as it is used here. Therein lies the problem.
